My Sun, My Moon, My Shining Star
by Lyowyn
Summary: Sirius and Remus fall in love during the summer after sixth year over escapades of the Marauders and bowls of peas. I fixed chapter 5. It was really screwed up I'd suggest rereading it from the beggining.
1. An odd Proposition

My Sun, My Moon, My Shining Star  
  
Chapter One  
  
An Odd Proposition  
  
A.N: My sincerest apologies to any Eternal Yours fans, but I had this rattling around in my brain, and I really had to get it out. I'm going to be done with school next week though, so I'll have plenty of free time.   
  
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters for this fic, they're J.K. Rowling's.  
  
Remus Lupin buried his head in his arms. 'You're absolutely mad Padfoot,' he moaned.   
  
Sirius Black rolled his eyes, 'Oh come on Moony, it'll be fun. This is our last summer before we graduate.'  
  
Remus lifted his head to face Sirius, a pleading look in his eyes. 'But in muggle America?'   
  
James Potter's eyes brightened suddenly in recognition. 'America?' James smirked, 'Quiddich World Cup is in America this year.'  
  
Sirius smiled and patted his friend's shoulder. 'Don't worry James, I've already pre ordered tickets.'  
  
This seemed to have momentarily sedated James, who had slumped back into his chair with a dreamy look on his face.  
  
A rush of end of year panic had overtaken the Gryffindor common room. Thanks to Remus, however, the Marauders had all packed yesterday and were free to do a little last minute plotting for the summer holidays.  
  
Remus sighed. 'Camping?' He asked weakly.  
  
Sirius nodded emphatically, 'My Great Uncle has a cabin up in Minnesota, but no one goes there anymore, it'll be perfect. The cabin is right on the lake; we can fish, and swim, and roast marshmallows, and...oh I don't know...parasail or something.' Sirius' eyes had gone wide and he was making a lot of rapid hand gestures that led Remus to believe that parasailing had something to do with abusing large birds with sticks.  
  
Suddenly Remus realized that there was no way to talk Sirius out of this and he might as well just concede defeat. 'Fine,' Remus sighed, rolling his eyes. 'You really are mad though, the both of you.'  
  
James chuckled a bit and looked around the common room. 'Have either of you seen Peter lately? It's nearly time to go down to the end of year feast.'   
  
Sirius was smiling rather smugly. 'Off snogging that new girlfriend of his, I imagine.'   
  
James furrowed his eyebrow. 'That Jamaican foreign exchange student?'  
  
Sirius nodded, 'Yeah, her name is Ryann Aliyah.'   
  
'He'll probably want to bring her along camping then,' James said objectively.  
  
'Don't see any reason why she can't come along,' Sirius said in retrospect.  
  
'Well I'm bringing Lilly then,' James said excitedly and ran off to find her before it was time to leave.  
  
Sirius shook his head in disbelief. 'I might be mildly eccentric, but I think that you were right about him, Moony; he is mad.'  
  
Remus suddenly sat upright, his eyes widening. 'What about Moony? For a moment I'd nearly forgotten...' he broke off.  
  
Sirius smiled confidently and patted Remus on the back. 'Way ahead of you mate.'  
  
Half an hour later the Marauders, Lilly, and Ryann were tucking into the end of yeah feast. James was whispering something in Lilly's ear that was making her blush. Peter was stuffing his face like usual, and his new girlfriend was doing much the same. Remus was sipping away at his pumpkin juice and pushing things around his plate with his fork, thinking. Sirius was piling peas onto his plate and smirking madly.  
  
'Ouch!' Remus exclaimed suddenly. Someone had just kicked him under the table. He turned to look at Sirius who grinned and passed him the peas. Remus squinted at him, asking what Sirius was planning now without words.  
  
Sirius rolled his eyes and leaned in to whisper in Remus' ear. Remus had an odd feeling in the pit of his stomach whenever Sirius was this close to him. Remus looked longingly at Sirius' hair, wanting to run his hands through it, as Sirius whispered hot breath into his ear, disclosing the secrets of his grand scheme.   
  
When he had clued Remus in Sirius scooted back over to his plate and the feeling in the pit of Remus' stomach dissipated, leaving his with a sense of disappointment. Sirius grinned and Remus, who was piling his plate with peas, returned him a weak smile.  
  
Two tables over Severus Snape was minding his own business, flirting with someone else's girlfriend through a mouthful of shepherd's pie, when several hundred peas pelted themselves at him. An instant later he was greeted by a dozen muffled guffaws from the Gryffindor table. Severus scowled, wiping the peas out of his hair, already plotting revenge.  
  
A.N. This formed itself in my head while I was at work...cleaning cabins. I hope you liked it. Eventually it will develop into a nice Sirius Remus slash. 


	2. Blackbird

My Sun, My Moon, My Shining Star Chapter Two Black Bird   
Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter and related characters. The title is a song by The Beatles Author's Note: For those of you who have been awaiting this story I'm so sorry to have taken so long to update. And for anyone who is reading Eternally Yours, I want to apologize for not updating that instead, but I wanted to at least get a chapter up for something and I'm not feeling especially inspired on that story.  
  
A week after they had parted from platform 9 and ¾ Remus was waiting at Flourish and Blotts for James, Lily, and Sirius. Peter's mother hadn't allowed him to come.  
  
Remus wandered aimlessly through the aisles in search of a book to read. He was just examining a book on animal transfiguration. Being able to transfigure himself into an animal would open up a whole world of possibilities for Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. It would be wonderful to be able to cause a little mayhem without the threat of a fully-grown werewolf to keep in check. But no, Remus had to inwardly reprimand himself. He had to stay practical, rational Remus, if he wasn't at least a little practical there would be no one to keep James and Sirius' feet on the ground. Who knows what would happen if no one was there to hold James and Sirius back.  
  
But Remus was knocked out of his reverie when the whole world went black.  
  
'Guess who?' Sirius said gleefully with his hands clamped over Remus' eyes.  
  
'Padfoot, dearest, I find it rather difficult to see with your hands over my eyes,' Remus said sardonically.  
  
Sirius frowned and uncovered Remus' eyes, snatching the book out of Remus' hands and flipping it closed to read the cover. 'Animal Transfiguration,' Sirius read aloud. 'Surely not instigating dissention in the ranks now are we Moony?' He dropped his voice to little above a whisper. 'You're the resident werewolf Remmie, no need to transfigure yourself into a goldfish.'  
  
Remus raised an eyebrow and examined him. Sirius Black was wearing a pair of black jeans, a black button down shirt, and black biker boots, with his black hair hanging down around his very black face. 'You have soot on your face,' he said finally, shaking his head in a 'you're hopeless' gesture.  
  
Sirius' smile fell as he began to rub irritatedly at his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt.  
  
Remus sighed, rolled his eyes, and began digging through the pockets of his brown leather jacket. Finally he found what he was looking for, a small white silk handkerchief with R.L. embroidered on the edge in silver thread. Remus shrugged. 'My Gran sends me a box every Christmas.' He sounded a little embarrassed, his cheeks tinted the slightest shade of red as he unfolded the handkerchief.  
  
'You're too tall Padfoot,' Remus groaned as he tiptoed to reach Sirius' forehead. He licked the handkerchief, staring up into Sirius' eyes, and blushed more deeply red. He wiped the soot off Sirius' forehead gently with the handkerchief; his heart was beating rapidly. He looked down, meeting Sirius' darkly brown eyes once more. Remus swallowed and cleared his throat, stepping back a bit as he finished wiping off Sirius's cheeks, just as Lily and James arrived.  
  
'And what were we doing?' James asked in a suspicious tone.  
  
Sirius grinned, grabbed James around the neck and pulled him close in a brotherly gesture. 'Could as you and Lily the same question, mate,' he whispered. Sirius let James go, tousling his hair, and addressed the group at large. 'It just so happens that Remmie and I were discussing the finer points of transfiguring the dear boy into a goldfish.'  
  
James raised an eyebrow, 'And what was the handkerchief for?'  
  
Sirius looked at James in disgust, 'You don't really think I'm going to pick a goldfish up with my bare hands, do you Jim?' Sirius asked in an affronted tone that suggested that it was the most obvious thing in the world.  
  
'Not even if it's Remmie?'  
  
'Goldfish defecate, urinate, and fornicate in the same water that they breathe, Jim. And there is no way that I am touching one with my bare hands, even if it is Remmie.' Sirius gave Remus an apologetic glance.  
  
Remus nodded and returned the handkerchief to his pocket, looking disgusted. 'I really don't think that I would enjoy life as a goldfish after all Paddy. Why don't we get to shopping instead? Unless of course you've given up on this eccentric little excursion of yours?'  
  
Sirius turned a weary eye on Remus. 'I haven't, and it's not an excursion it's a holiday, so you'd better bloody well enjoy yourself Remmie.'  
  
'You're not denying that it's eccentric though, are you?'  
  
Sirius looked seriously over at Remus. 'You've known me nearly seven years. Have you ever known me to do anything that wasn't at least a tiny bit eccentric?'  
  
'No, I guess not,' Remus answered simply and put the book back on the shelf. ' Where are we going shopping first, oh fearless leader.'  
  
Sirius thought about it for a minute. 'We're going to need some muggle clothes, so why don't we go to our vaults and exchange currency in Gringotts and then hit muggle London before lunch.' Sirius paused and looked at Lily. 'Are you going to need any clothes Lily? You're the only one with muggle parents so we probably shouldn't split up, but I don't really want to go into a women's clothing store.' Sirius shuddered. 'Bwahgahah.'  
  
Lily smirked. "Afraid of bras and panties Sirius? How are you ever going to get laid with an attitude like that?'  
  
Sirius glanced over at Remmie and blushed; he could think of ways.  
  
Lily, not noticing continued, ' I do need a few things, but it shouldn't take too long, I'll just take James along and leave Remus to look after you, you can't get into to much trouble that way.'  
  
Remus sniggered.  
  
Sirius smirked. 'Yeah, Remmie is right, you'd be surprised.'  
  
James looked dejectedly over at Lily.  
  
Lily frowned at him, 'Don't look at me like that. It won't take very long, the only thing that I really need to get is a swimsuit.'  
  
'I guess so,' James said, trying to sound resigned, but smirking and flashing Sirius a thumbs-up once she had turned her back.  
  
Lily saw this out of the corner of her eye and rolled her eyes, turned back to him and took his hand in hers, more like an older sister looking after her dimwitted younger brother than a girlfriend out shopping with her boyfriend.  
  
'To Gringotts!' Sirius yelled in a childishly triumphant sort of way.  
  
They'd all gone to their vaults and somehow managed to wander into a muggle clothing store across the street from the Leaky Cauldron.  
  
So now James Sirius and Remus were standing in a close huddle away from the muggles and Lily was fluttering around the racks and depositing anything that struck her fancy into the outstretched arms of one of the boys.  
  
Lily came back over and dropped a pile of clothes into James' arms. She paused and looked at him skeptically before taking a deep blue sweater vest from him and dropping it on Sirius' pile instead. 'This will look much better on you, Sirius.'  
  
Sirius glared at the positively putrid sweater vest and all the other horrid clothes Lily had picked out for him. 'Listen Lil, you're a great girl and all, but you're cramping my style. There's no way that I'm wearing any of this.' He threw his entire pile of clothes into Lily's unexpecting arms, then went over to Remus and did the same with his pile. 'Remmie too. If you want to dress James like a bloody yuppie, then by all means go ahead, but count us out.' He grabbed Remus' hand and began dragging him out of the store. 'We'll meet you at noon for ice cream back in Diagon Alley.'  
  
Remus gave Lily an apologetic glance over his shoulder before Sirius pulled him out the door.  
  
Sirius paused on the sidewalk and examined both sides of the street before turning right and pulling Remus after him.  
  
'You know that wasn't very nice,' Remus reprimanded calmly.  
  
'She'll get over it,' he said, looking off up the street. 'Besides, you didn't want to spend the whole summer wearing those horrid clothes either so don't give me that.'  
  
'Well no, but.'  
  
Sirius interrupted him. 'Then what difference does it make?' Sirius pointed up the street, 'Anyway, I think I've found something right up our alley.'  
  
Remus looked up to where he was pointing. It was a brick building with a huge painting of a raven silhouetted against the sun on the side. Over the door was painted, 'Raven Works Ink and Threads.'  
  
Remus raised an eyebrow at Sirius. 'You sure?'  
  
'Oh, come on Remmie, don't be such a stick.' And with that Sirius was pulling him off down the street and into the store.  
  
A low white wall partitioned the store. The tattoo parlor's half was a stark white save for a rather dervish looking painting of Robin Goodfellow on one of the walls. In stark contrast, the other half of the store was very black and dimly lit.  
  
Sirius sauntered right up to the counter, pulling Remus after him, and poised himself in front of the proprietress who was arranging hats on a rack behind the counter with her back turned to them. Sirius cleared his throat and she turned to face him. She was a fairly good looking young woman of about twenty-five with long black hair and sun darkened skin. She smiled genially. She was wearing a black apron with the raven emblem on the upper right side, a nametag reading, 'Raven,' was surrounded by a dozen novelty pins on the left.  
  
'Can I help you?'  
  
Sirius smiled, turning on the charm. 'Well you see, Raven dear, My good friend Remus and myself are about to embark on a little holiday with a few of our less stylish friends. So we're all shopping for new clothes, and we've just barely escaped spending the summer wearing khaki shorts and sweater vests. So we would greatly appreciate your expertise as we need to purchase an entire wardrobe for the summer.' Sirius smiled again. Unless we spend the whole summer wearing our school uniforms.'  
  
She giggled, smirking, 'aren't you cute.' She paused, appraising him. 'But yeah, I think I can help. Were are you going?'  
  
'America actually, Minnesota.'  
  
Raven's eyes widened. 'No kidding? I'm from Minnesota. My parents and me moved here when I was just a little baby, but we still spend summers there.'  
  
Sirius smiled, 'weird coincidence.'  
  
Raven shrugged, 'Yeah, but you're here about clothes, and something tells me that you like the color black.'  
  
Sirius grinned, looking down at his clothes, 'How could you tell?'   
  
An hour later Sirius had finished his shopping and Remus was nearly done. Sirius had gotten Raven a chair and seated her directly in front of the curtained dressing room, where she had the final say in everything.  
  
Remus came out in a camouflage jacket and a pair of black pants with silver spikes around the cuffs.  
  
Sirius turned around from a shelf where he was examining boots and looked over at Remus and then to Raven, who gave the outfit a thumbs up. 'Hey you look rather sexy in that coat, if I do say so myself. Damn, I'm jealous.'  
  
Remus blushed. Sirius had just called him sexy even if he hadn't meant it the way Remus would have liked. 'That's all well and good, but I think that I need a size bigger, it's way too tight.'  
  
Sirius nodded and grabbed a larger size off the shelf, bringing it over where Remus was struggling to get his jacket off. Sirius sighed, setting the Jacket down, and helped pull the jacket off over Remus' shoulders.  
  
Sirius gasped.  
  
Remus had been wearing a sleeveless shirt under the jacket and his bare arms were very heavily scarred. Sirius knew that Remus had scars from his transformations, but he didn't know it was this bad. He'd never really seen Remus without his shirt on before, and the boy always seemed to wear long sleeved shirts.  
  
Sirius wanted to smack himself in the head. How insensitive was he? It was bad enough having to live as a werewolf, Remus didn't need his best friend ogling him all the time. Sirius quickly recovered himself and put the new coat on Remus.  
  
Remus turned around to look into the mirror and Sirius found himself helpless not to ogle. That boy had a fine ass. Sirius tried to pry his eyes away and go back to the rack of boots, but he just couldn't. His feelings for Remus had been steadily growing over the past year, and now he just didn't know what to do. How can you just go up to your best friend and tell him you're in love with him and you think he has a hot ass? For some reason, Sirius didn't think that would go over too well.  
  
Remus turned around and Sirius abruptly raised his gaze, lest he be looking and the boy's crotch and he did not trust himself in the event of that happening.  
  
'Do you think this one looks all right Siri? It's not too big is it?'  
  
Sirius smiled, 'Looks great.' He turned back to the rack of boots and pulled a box out from under the shelf, handing it to Remus. 'Try these on next, then we need coats and then we're done.'  
  
Remus looked relieved. 'This has been fun, but I'm ready to sit down for a nice ice cream break. Vanilla,' he added, 'how about you?'  
  
Sirius swallowed.  
  
'Umm, I'm not sure. Black Cherry maybe.'  
  
Remus sat down on the floor and tried on the boots that Sirius had given him, a pair of black boots that came half way up to his knee and had metal plates on the sides. 'Yeah they fit,' he said finally. 'But what about you?'  
  
Sirius lifted a box off of their mountain of merchandise and opened it. Inside was a huge pair of black platform boots that laced up to the knee.  
  
Remus looked at him, expressionless. 'I should have gotten those ones. They're going to make you seven feet tall and I'm already a foot shorter than you.'  
  
Sirius shrugged, 'So get the same ones.'  
  
Remus looked up at him and smirked, ' No thanks, I'm going to have to much fun watching you fall on your ass.'  
  
I wish I could fall on your ass, Sirius thought silently. 'All right, all right. We need coats, then we can blow this Popsicle stand.'  
  
Remus smirked, 'And go to the ice cream parlor.'  
  
Sirius smiled, 'You're starting to sound like peter.'   
  
Sirius and Remus picked out matching black leather trench coats, paid for their purchases, and bid Raven farewell, promising to stop in again when the were back from holiday.  
  
Then they had walked down the street, turned around cursing themselves, and walked back up the street back through the Leaky Cauldron and into Diagon Alley.  
  
They had just sat down at Florean Fortisscui's to eat their ice cream when Lily and James sat down next to them. James looking frazzled, and Lily looking perky as ever.  
  
'Go get us a sundae would you, dear.' Lily said smiling at him, and James obediently followed her instructions. Then she turned to Sirius and Remus. 'So, did you have fun shopping on your own?' she asked sardonically.  
  
Sirius smiled, 'Course we did, didn't we Remmie?'  
  
But Remus wasn't paying attention, he was looking transfixed up the street. Sirius followed his gaze and saw Raven marching purposefully towards them, her black hair flowing out behind her. As soon as she saw them looking at her she waved at them.  
  
Remus turned to Sirius, 'What's she doing here?'  
  
But before Sirius could think of a suitable answer she was standing before them.  
  
'You left your wand in the dressing room, Remus.' She handed it to him, 'You really shouldn't leave it lying around like that.'  
  
Remus took it, gaping at her.  
  
'I'm a witch,' she explained.  
  
'Then why do you have a shop in muggle London?' Sirius asked, skeptically.  
  
'I married a muggle tattoo artist,' she explained. 'Much to the disdain of my parents.'  
  
Sirius had been about to ask her who her parents are when Lily cleared her throat loudly. Sirius sighed, 'This is Lily, and that's my mate James.' Sirius gestured to James who was struggling to pick up spoons and hold onto his sundae at the same time.  
  
'Won't you join us for a bit?' Lily asked graciously.  
  
Raven had a torn expression. 'I have to take a rain check on that. I left my brother watching the store I should really get back. Bye then, nice meeting you all.'  
  
'Bye.'  
  
With that she started back up the street.  
  
Raven stepped back into the shop. 'Severus!' When there was no answer she called again, 'Severus Snape, are you even here?'  
  
Her brother walked out from behind a rack of clothes.  
  
'Yes I'm here, you don't have to yell. I found some shoes.' He held up a pair of green Converse All Stars proudly, earning himself an eye roll.  
  
Authors Note: Well? I had to put that bit in about the green converse All Stars, because I just bought myself a pair yesterday.  
  
Thank You:  
  
Mz Dominatrix: Thanks for the spelling tip, I wasn't sure and I didn't have time to look it up.  
  
Kaori7395: I'm glad you like this fic, and I should have another chapter of EY up soon, I just need to work it over in my head a little more first.  
  
Parody-of-an-Angel: I'm glad you like the story, it doesn't make me feel as guilty for not updating EY instead.  
  
Rose Dust: If you're reading this, your review was the reason I updated this instead of EY. 


	3. Less Than Paradise

My Sun, My Moon, My Shining Star

Chapter 3

Less Than Perfect

A.N. Ok, so a stag, a dog, and a werewolf walk into an airplane terminal...

Disclaimer: I don't know any characters other than Raven.

'We're going to be late!' James was yelling, trying to convince the rest of them that they should break into a run.

Lily was frowning and digging through her lavender messenger bag for something.

Sirius was weaving back and forth, one platform boot in front of the other, reading a pamphlet that some men in white robes, calling themselves the collective brothers of the sun, had given him.

Remus was walking calmly next to Sirius, torn between being sensible and joining James in a sprint to the plane.

Sirius folded the pamphlet back, stuck it in the ass pocket of the pair of black bell-bottoms he was wearing, and began walking a little faster.

Sirius had thought that Remus would be relieved that he started walking faster, since a moment ago he had been making little pinning noises at Sirius' side. Instead, Remus abruptly stopped walking, squinting his eyes in an anguished expression.

Sirius spun around on his platform heels and cocked his head at Remus in a very dog like gesture. 'What's wrong?'

Remus opened his eyes and grimaced up at Sirius. 'Forgot my wand at your house.'

Sirius smirked. 'You really aught to take more care where your wand's concerned. That's the second tie you've forgotten it in two days.'

Remus narrowed his eyes. 'Sirius.'

Sirius' smirk widened into a grin and he produced Remus' wand from the pocket of his trench coat. 'Nicked it off the table this morning.' He twirled the wand through his fingers and then handed it to a scowling Remus.

'Very clever, Padfoot. Eat any good books lately?'

'_I wanted to eat you last night_,' Sirius thought reflexively, envisioning Remus asleep on his sofa, before reprimanding himself. Instead he said, 'Oh, that book you were reading last night looked good, like you said I always eat garbage.'

Remus smiled at that, 'Poor Sirius. You really have no idea do you?' With this Remus sighed and hurried down the terminal to catch up to Lily and James.

Sirius frowned; feeling more or less completely confused, and then hurried after them too.

Remus was desperately clutching Sirius' arm as the plane took off, his eyes wide, and his mouth slack.

'Ow! Bloody Moony, your nails! God, let go!' Sirius pried Remus' fingers off his arm. 'What is your problem?'

'You know I hate heights!' Remus latched onto Sirius' arm once more, but not quite as hard as before.

'Oh, come off it! We're all closed in; you're not even out in the open air. Just because you had one bad experience on the back of a broomstick doesn't mean you have to rip my arm off.' In all actuality, now that Remus was no longer digging his nails into Sirius' skin, he didn't really mind having Remus hold on to him, liked it even.

'Might I remind you that it was your broomstick that I had the bad experience on, and that you were the one driving, and that it was all your fault!' Remus was putting a lot of emphasis on you and your, and the color was rising in his cheeks.

Sirius liked that color on the smooth milky whiteness of Remus' skin; he wondered what it would take to make it spread to the other parts of his body.

At this point Lily turned to the side and glared at them. She interjected in a harsh whisper. 'Would you two be quiet, and stop yelling about broomsticks; we're on an airplane full of muggles.' She broke off, mumbling something about the anti-muggle security act.

Sirius turned to look at Remus, made eye contact and smirked. Remus nodded and they both yelled, 'Broomsticks!'

For a change Remus didn't feel guilty about lowering himself to Sirius' antics. He suddenly had the realization that he didn't need to be rational Remus anymore; Lily was there to keep them in check and he could relax. He didn't have to be sensible, and for the first time he didn't want to be sensible; there were a few things that he would really like to not be sensible about, especially where the boy sitting next to him was concerned.

Remus found himself in a powerboat that Sirius had rented them for the summer. It was the middle of the night, and cold damp wind was whipping across his face. Sirius sat behind him steering the boat, which must have been pretty easy because he didn't seem to be having any problems with it. James and Lily were in the front of the boat bundled up in a blanket against the wind. This made Remus even colder, and he let out any involuntary shiver.

'Are you cold Remmie?' Sirius called against the wind. Remus shook his head. Sirius smiled, 'Liar!' Remus gave a guilty nod of his head. 'Come here then, I'm freezing too!'

Remus moved carefully to the back of the boat and sat down next to Sirius. Sirius wrapped an arm around his shoulder and they huddled together, although the word in both of their minds was more along the lines of cuddle. Sirius looked down at Remus and their eyes met.

Sirius felt another wave of reflexive thoughts that he wouldn't have shared with Remus for all the world. He blushed and looked away. He began to talk because he was nervous and he always talked when he was nervous. 'The cabin is on a little island in the middle of the lake; on one bank is a wizard community and on the opposite bank is an oblivious muggle community.' Sirius paused and moved a little closer to Remus, relishing the other boy's warmth on his side. He suddenly realized that he had pretty much accepted his feelings toward Remus, wrapping his arm around him had been a bold move, but it felt so natural. Sirius had never been one to look back once he'd made the leap, this felt right, and so was there any reason to question it? Was there any reason not to peruse it further? Of course there was; Remus was his best friend and that meant a lot to him. He wasn't about to jeopardize that.

Sirius kept talking, if only to keep his mind of Remus. 'When the time comes, Lily can go stay the night on the other side of the lake, and James and I will stay the night with you on the island.'

'Padfoot and Prongs will stay with Moony on the island,' Remus corrected.

'Right.' Sirius saw his hand move to take Remus' without ever having made a conscious decision to do so. His breath caught in his throat. 'Your hands are cold,' he said nervously, stroking the top side of Remus' hand between the thumb and forefinger with his thumb.

'Uhya,' was all that Remus could manage. His breath had caught in his throat the moment Sirius' hand had touched his. Remus had given up on any sort of romantic involvement ages ago; he preferred a close friendship to nothing at all, and the great playboy Sirius Black would never in a million years return the feelings that Remus felt so strongly for him. He'd gotten used to that by now, though. So now, when he suddenly felt an upsurge of the same old feelings, it rather caught him by surprise. There was something so tender about the way Sirius touched him that suggested more than just friendship. Remus threw that thought from his mind, he could not trust to hope.

Just the same Remus leaned in to Sirius as they sped towards the island up ahead.

After a few moments of fumbling around in the dark for the light switch, Sirius pulled out his wand. But, before he could recite an incantation Remus, who had been avoiding making eye contact with him since they arrived at the dock, flipped on the light switch and flooded the room with light.

Sirius frowned in frustration, 'How did you find the switch?'

'Muggle Studies,' Remus answered, still not meeting Sirius' gaze. 'The light switches in muggle homes tend to be midway between the floor and the ceiling on the right side of the door you're entering through.'

Sirius rolled his eyes. 'Quote that right out of a textbook, did you?'

Remus ignored him and began looking around the cabin. It was a three-room cabin right on the lakeshore, and there were dead ladybugs everywhere. The main room was a combination kitchen and living space divided by a low wall. There was a television set and two couches on the carpeted side of the divider; on the other side was a refrigerator, stove, sink, counter top, under which were four bar stools, and a prehistoric microwave oven. The other two rooms were a tiny bedroom, containing a bed and dresser, and a bathroom.

Sirius walked over to the pantry and opened it up, inside was a great deal of dried goods, most of which had long since expired, and the dishes. Sirius lifted up a box of macaroni. 'This is five years out of date; looks like we're going to be doing our grocery shopping tomorrow.' He put the macaroni back in the cupboard and closed the door.

'Well what do you guys think?' Sirius asked enthusiastically, a manic gleam in his eyes.

Remus looked down at his foot, and lifted up his platform boot to reveal a dozen crushed ladybug corpses. He looked up, meeting Sirius' gaze with his for the first time since they'd left the boat. His face was deadpan still for a moment before it lit up with a smirk. 'A mite less than paradise mate,' Remus patted him on the shoulder and went to inspect the bedroom.

James mimicked Remus' pat on the arm and went into the bedroom with Lily on his heels.

After a quick inspection of the bedroom James pronounced, 'It's way past my bed time,' and jumped up on the bed, looking expectantly up at Lily.

Lily smirked and jumped up on the bed next to James.

'No way!' Sirius said. 'I get the bed this is my cabin, you guys go sleep on the couch!'

Lily smiled curtly, 'I daresay that we'll need a bit more privacy than that dear. Besides, there is no way that James and I can both fit on one of those little couches, so unless you and Remus want to share the bed...?'

At this there were identical thoughts of, 'I wouldn't mind,' at both sides of the room.

Sirius was rather put out, 'So that means I have to sleep.'

Lily cut him off, 'Sofa city sweetheart.'

Sirius gave a dog like growl and stomped from the room.

Remus gave Lily an apologetic glance. Why did he always feel as though he needed to apologize for Sirius' behavior? Then he walked out of the room, closing the door courteously behind him.

Half an hour later, after Sirius had flipped through each of the five tv channels a hundred times and the noises from the other side of the wall had ceased, Sirius and Remus and turned the light out and laid down on opposite couches.

'Sirius!' after about five minutes Remus gave out a distressed call.

'What?' Sirius growled from the edge of sleep.

'There are bugs in my bed!'

'Don't worry about them, they can't hurt you they're dead, go to sleep.'

Remus, grumbling all the while, got up and picked all of the dead bugs off of his couch while Sirius slept comfortably on the other side of the room.

Ten minutes later Sirius awoke, scratching at his face in a very dog-like gesture. His face that was covered with dead ladybugs. Remus slept comfortably nearby, one hundred percent bug free.

Authors Note: My apologies to any Eternally Yours fans. I promise to update that next, but I just got rid of a bad case of writers block and at this point I'll take anything the muses will give me.

Thanks:

The Golden Shadow: I did update...eventually

Lydia Sable: I like it when Sirius talked about Remus' ass too. Thanks for the feedback, I didn't know if that was too corny or not.

Parody-of-an-Angel: I'm glad you liked the sexual tension, if I know what people like in the stories and can put more of that kind of stuff in there.

Loonymoon: First off, the reason I chose Minnesota instead of Colorado or California is because I'm from Minnesota so it's easier to write since I've never been to either one of those other places, besides can't you just picture Siri and Remmie bundled up together to keep out the cold. I'm glad you liked Raven I debated whether on not I should put her in, like you said a lot of people don't like original characters, but it wouldn't really work with the plot in my mind if she wasn't there.


	4. I Think I Love You

My Sun, My Moon, My Shinning Star

Chapter Four

I Think I Love You

A.N: I'm actually feeling pretty content with the amount of reviews that I'm getting for this story at the moment. As long as I get at least 5 per chapter I'll keep updating even if I am getting an average of 13 on my other story. I like Siri and Remmie way better anyway.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I Think I Love You, is a song by Kaci. I think I'll stick the lyrics at the end of the chapter.

Sirius looked up and saw Remus bent over the stove, cooking something. The delicious and faintly nauseating smell of eggs wafted to him, and he frowned. Sirius walked over to the stove where Remus was cooking in a pink apron.

Leaning over his shoulder Sirius asked, 'Where did you get the eggs Rem?'

'The chickens of course,' Remus answered looking up at Sirius and grinning. 'James and Lily are outside playing marbles, so we're all alone for breakfast.'

'They don't want anything to eat?' Sirius asked, feeling confused.

'I told you,' Remus said in an exasperated tone. 'They're busy playing marbles; it's not easy playing marbles when you're riding flamingos.'

'Flamingos? I thought that was croquet.'

Remus shrugged, forked some eggs, and put them into Sirius' mouth. A flicker of a smirk came over Remus' face as he slowly drew the fork out of Sirius' mouth and replaced it with his lips

Sirius let out a startled moan, his eyes going wide, and almost broke contact. Remus responded by wrapping his arms around Sirius' neck and kissing him more deeply.

Sirius stepped back and held Remus at arms length. Sirius searched Remus' face for some kind of acknowledgement of their feelings for each other, but found it blank. His heart sank, and he felt his throat close up. Tears welled in his eyes as his arms went weak and Remus made once more to envelope him in his arms.

Remus smiled, his eyes blank, 'It's okay Siri; I love you.'

Sirius looked into those emotionless eyes and wanted to die. Everything he had ever dreamed of had finally come true. Remus loved him, but everything felt wrong. Remus' emotionless eyes burned holes through his heart, and his embrace was cold.

Sirius wondered if he had been wrong about his feelings toward Remus in the first place. Maybe there wasn't an emotional connection after all; maybe the attraction was purely physical. But no, their friendship had always been warm. This was all wrong; his touch which normally would have sent warm shivers through Sirius' skin was cold and emotionless.

Remus smiled dumbly again and rested his head against Sirius' chest. Sirius wrapped his arms around Remus and rested his head on top of Remus'. Silent tears streamed down Sirius' cheeks.

'Sirius! Sirius, are you okay?'

Sirius was shaken awake by a very distressed werewolf.

'Did you have a bad dream?' Remus asked as Sirius sat up.

Sirius thought about it for a moment and then nodded. 'Yeah,' he said feebly, wiping the tears out of his eyes.

Remus plopped down on the couch next to Sirius, grimacing as he heard the crunch of dead ladybugs. He would certainly have to take on some cleaning today. But he smirked, maybe he'd let Sirius suffer a little more.

Sirius noticed that Remus was wearing an apron, although green this time, and holding an egg covered spatula. Remus wrapped the arm not holding the spatula around Sirius.

Sirius' heat began beating rapidly and he was nearly overcome by the need to kiss Remus' warm sensuous loving lips. Sirius turned his head away from Remus and bit his lip to restrain himself.

Remus, who was already nervous enough with his arm wrapped around Sirius, took this as a sign that Sirius was uncomfortable and returned his arm to his side. 'Well, what was your dream about?'

Sirius frowned for a moment, considering whether or not to tell Remus everything. He abstained, deciding that he would tell Remus of his feelings for him, but not quite yet. Now Sirius smirked. 'I had a nightmare about your cooking, Rem.'

Remus stood up abruptly, his face somewhere between a grin and a frown, and hit Sirius on top of the head with his egg filled spatula.

Sirius smiled, seething with sarcasm. 'Oh wonderful Remmie! Now I have eggs and dead ladybugs in my hair! And all thanks to you! Where did you get the eggs anyway?'

'The chickens of course,' Remus answered as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Sirius sighed, a stray tear rolling down his cheek. 'I suppose Jim and Lily are outside playing marbles on flamingos.'

'Flamingos? I thought that was croquet.'

'That's what I said.'

'What are you talking about?'

Sirius shook his head. 'Never mind.'

A.N. I'm sorry that was so short. It was originally longer, but I decided to split it into two chapters. I don't know what I should think about the dream sequence thing, it was originally just a way for me to satisfy everyone and get them in bed together without ruining the story, but then halfway through it sort of changed.

Thanks:

Parody-of-an-Angel: Your reviews are too cute! I love it when you tell me the parts that you like. I'm afraid that there wasn't a lot of innuendo in this chapter, but I'll probably put chapter 5 (the other half) up by the end of the week, and it should make you laugh.

Elizabeth Tears: So which story do you like better? (If you say Eternally Yours I'll disown you!)

MissMe: Hee Hee, me too.

Shounen-ai no Senshi: I like this story best, so I try to update, but I get yelled at by the readers of my other stories.

Xandria Nirvana: Believe me, you don't want to feel sorry for the ladybugs, it's a million times worse when they're alive.

Quick-fix: Thanks for the review. I'll try to keep the pace even, but I don't intend to spend twenty chapters talking about Remus and Sirius falling in love when I've already established that. They both love each other. Remus has been in love with Sirius for a long time and kept it a secret. Sirius has just realized his feelings, but Sirius is a rather outspoken fellow who's not apt to lose his chance. Thank you for the review though; not very many people give me constructive reviews. I just love praise in general anyway.

Queen of the Paperclips: Might I just start by saying that I love your pen name. I update when I can, I'm not Superman, but I'll try to do so sooner next time. Also, a hundred thousand live ladybugs in your house is far worse than a hundred thousand dead ones.

im-a-daydream-believer: I live out in the sticks in Minnesota and there are icky ladybugs everywhere!

Lyrics for I Think I Love You by Kaci:

I'm sleeping  
And right in the middle of a good dream  
Then all at once I wake up   
From something that keeps knocking at my brain  
Before I go insane  
I hold my pillow to my head  
And spring up in my bed   
Screaming out the words I dread ....  
"I think I love you!" (I think I love you)  
  
This morning, I woke up with this feeling  
I didn't know how to deal with  
And so I just decided to myself  
I'd hide it to myself  
And never talk about it  
And did not go and shout it  
When you walked into the room .....  
"I think I love you!" (I think I love you)  
  
I think I love you  
So what am I so afraid of?  
I'm afraid that I'm not sure of  
A love there is no cure for  
I think I love you  
Isn't that what life is made of?  
Though it worries me to say  
I've never felt this way  
  
Believe me  
You really don't have to worry  
I only want to make you happy  
And if you say  
Hey, go away, I will  
But I think better still  
I'd better stay around and love you  
Do you think I have a case?  
Let me ask you to your face  
Do you think you love me?  
  
I think I love you  
So what am I so afraid of?  
I'm afraid that I'm not sure of  
A love there is no cure for  
I think I love you  
Isn't that what life is made of?  
Though it worries me to say  
I've never felt this way  
  
I don't know what I'm up against  
I don't know what it's all about  
I've go so much to think about   
Hey!I think I love you!  
So what am I so afraid of?  
I'm afraid that I'm not sure of  
A love there is no cure for  
I think I love you  
Isn't that what life is made of?  
Though it worries me to say  
I've never felt this way  
  
I think I love you!  
So what am I so afraid of?  
I'm afraid that I'm not sure of  
A love there is no cure for  
I think I love you  
Isn't that what life is made of?  
Though it worries me to say  
I've never felt this way


	5. An Epic At Sea

My Sun, My Moon, My Shining Star

Chapter Five

An Epic at Sea

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters; they belong to J.K. Rowling

'Are you ready to go catch Lunch Moony?' Sirius asked, pouncing into the room, carrying a fishing pole in one hand and a tackle box in the other.

Remus looked up at Sirius from where he was kneeling; he'd been scrubbing the kitchen floor. 'What?'

Sirius held the fishing pole up. 'Come on, James and Lily are already in the boat.'

'All right,' Remus sighed. 'I'm pretty much finished anyway.' He stood up, wiping his hands on his trousers. Remus dumped his scrub water down the sink and returned the bucket to the broom cupboard. When he looked back to Sirius he was looking around the cabin in awe.

'This is amazing,' Sirius said. 'We leave you alone for a couple hours and you turn our happy little shit hole into this.'

'It's called soap,' Remus replied curtly, "maybe you should try it some time.'

'Naw,' Sirius said with a grin. 'I enjoy being dirty.'

'Doesn't mean you need to live in filth,' Remus said absentmindedly. Incidentally he was being so absentminded because he was busily putting his own dirty mind to work.

'Well, that's where you come in handy,' Sirius said, thinking that he could put Remus' handiwork to far better use elsewhere.

They remained in silence, not awkward only for the fact that they were both fantasizing about eachother and, consequently, far too busy to notice that they'd stopped speaking.

'I'm going to go grab a sweater in case it gets cold,' Remus said, suddenly ending the silence.

Sirius considered how warm it was outside, and how much he really didn't want to wear a sweater, but that he was better safe than sorry; especially when one considered the many versatile functions that a sweater could serve when stuck on a very small boat with one Remus Lupin. So he decided to grab a sweater as well. He tipped his trunk over the couch that served as his bed and rummaged unceremoniously through his clothes and possessions until he found the sweater that he wanted.

Remus turned around from his own couch to watch Sirius in amusement. 'I don't suppose that you're planning on cleaning that up either.'

Sirius frowned, 'Oh, come on Padfoot, I'm not that much of a slob.' He scooped all of his things back into his trunk in a haphazard pile and sat on it to press the lid down while he did up the latches. After this small feat was accomplished Sirius stood up, looking rather pleased with himself. 'Well, let's go then,' he said, and headed for the door.

Remus just shook his head and followed.

The afternoon found the four of them back out on the lake in Sirius' speedboat trying to catch some fish.

Remus looked skeptically at his fishing pole. 'Are you sure we're doing this right Paddy?'

"Of course I'm sure,' Sirius snapped. 'This is exactly how the muggles do it, isn't it Lily?'

Lily shrugged. 'I wouldn't know, my family is more of the indoor type. I've never been fishing before.' Lily stopped and pondered this for a moment. 'But don't you need something to bait the hook with?'

'What?'

Lily frowned. 'They need some incentive, a bit of food or something. You can't just expect a fish to bite an empty hook for no reason.'

'Well why the bloody hell not?'

Lily sighed, and ferreted around in the tackle box. With a exclamation of success, she pulled out something very small and neon pink.

Sirius squinted at it suspiciously. 'What's that?'

'Bait.'

Sirius took it from her skeptically. He squished it between his fingers, and jiggled it so that it's little tail moved back and forth. He sniffed it once for good measure and then looked up at Lily with an expression of amusement. 'Yeah, sure Lil, whatever you say.' With that he flicked it out over the side of the boat and watched in amazement as a bass surfaced almost immediately and swallowed the plastic worm before disappearing back into the depths of the lake.

Lily gave Sirius a superior look.

Sirius shrugged. 'Guess you win then. Give me another one.'

Lily dug through the tackle box for a few minutes, but couldn't find anything. 'Looks like that was the only one.'

'We could use some chewing gum,' James said, trying to be helpful. 'I read it in a comic once.'

'I don't think that really works,' Lily said. 'Besides, we don't have any chewing gum.'

'Let's go back then, I'm hot.' Remus whined, and rightly so he was wearing all black and the sun was high in the sky even if they were in Minnesota.

'Yes,' Sirius said and then stopped himself before he added you certainly are. 'It is hot; let's go back inside. We can be American and have mac 'n' cheese for lunch.'

Remus reeled in his line and moved to the rear of the boat to sit next to Sirius.

'Hey Rem," Sirius said, lifting the tip of his pole out of the water and splashing Remus with his lure as he flipped it, on the end of his foot of fishing line, back into the boat. 'Are you going to cook when we get back? You do know how to make mac 'n' cheese, don't you?'

Remus sighed. 'I suppose so, but you're going to help me with the dishes, and if you think that I'm going to be doing all of the cooking all summer you're batty.'

Sirius smiled. 'I doubt anyone would want to eat anything either I or Jim made, so it looks like it's up to you and Lil.'

'Great, that leaves you free to do the dishes, and you can go to the market with me when we get back. We need milk if you want macaroni and cheese.'

Sirius shrugged and set his fishing pole down inside the boat. He pulled the cord to start the motor, but was only greeted by a low sputtering for a moment before the motor died. Sirius frowned and tried again, but this time there was no sound from the engine at all.

Remus turned to him, a worried look on his face. 'What's wrong?'

Sirius began checking valves and adjustments, but saw nothing out of place. He tried the engine a few more times, checked the prop, and then sat back in a huff.

'Did you try turning it on?' James asked smirking.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, 'You don't know a lot about boats, do you Jim?'

James' face fell. 'Uh, no, I guess not.'

Sirius nodded. 'Well, I think that our battery is dead.'

James smiled sardonically, 'Well that's good to know; what are we going to do about it?'

'How the hell am I supposed to know,' Sirius grunted.

Lilly leaned back in the front of the boat, and rolled up the sleeves of her T-shirt. 'Well, I'm just going to lay here and tan while you boys figure it out.'

Sirius smiled sarcastically. 'Why thank you for your cool collectedness and evaluation of the situation.'

Lily grunted.

Twenty minutes later they were still looking for a decent answer, and they'd eaten all the sandwiches that they'd brought with them.

'Well, we could start paddling,' Sirius ventured.

'No,' James answered frankly.

'I don't suppose that anyone brought their wand,' Remus said, looking around the boat.

There were murmurings of dissent from the rest of the people in the boat and Remus fell silent.

Sirius eyed the flare gun by the emergency kit in the corner of the boat. 'Hey, I have an idea.'

Everyone eyed Sirius suspiciously.

'And what might that be?' Remus asked.

Instead of answering him like any normal person would, Sirius grabbed the flare gun and shot it into the air.

Remus gaped at Sirius, because that was what he was expected to do, but he honestly wasn't that surprised. 'I'm not quite sure that that was such a good idea Padfoot,' Remus said calmly. 'I'm pretty sure that you're only supposed to use that in a real emergency, and I'm not quite sure that this qualifies.'

Sirius shrugged and pointed to a powerboat that was barreling towards them. 'It worked though.'

Remus sighed in exasperation and watched the boat slow to a stop next to theirs. There were to women in the boat, both appeared to be about the same age as Remus himself.

The woman driving the boat smiled congenially; she had long auburn hair that was plaited back into a braid. 'Did you send up that flair?' she asked in a light airy voice.

Sirius flashed her a characteristically cavalier smile. 'We seem to be having a little engine trouble.'

Remus eyed the girl suspiciously. She was wearing flip-flops and cut off denim shorts with a spaghetti strap top, and Remus didn't like the way that she was looking at Sirius.

'Engine trouble, hunh?' She glanced appraisingly at their boat and then to her counterpart. The blond girl sitting next to them in the boat gazed interestedly at them over the cover of the book that she was reading. 'Jackie, wanna give it a look?'

Jackie closed her book and rose to her feet.

'We'd appreciate the help,' Sirius said, giving her a hand into the boat.

Remus moved, a bit grudgingly, out of the way so that Sirius and the blond would have room to look at the motor.

'Are you folks British then?' she asked.

'Yeah, we're staying at my uncle's cabin for the summer,' Sirius answered. 'I think the problem has something to do with the battery. The first couple times the motor wouldn't turn over, but now it doesn't do anything, so it must be dead.'

Jackie frowned and gave the cord a tug, listening carefully for any noises from the engine. 'Where did you get this boat?' she asked, looking up at Sirius.

'I rented it from a campground across the lake,' Sirius answered. 'Why?'

'Frozen Beach Resort?'

Sirius nodded.

'Shit,' Jackie swore. 'I told Elliott to fix this a month ago.'

Sirius frowned. 'Fix what?'

'It's no big deal really, but your gas gauge is broke. You're out of gas.' Jackie answered, looking infernally pissed off. 'I work at Frozen Beach, and I'm really sorry. If you want to come with me back to the resort I'll be happy to get you a new can of gas free of charge. Our mechanic's out of town today, but I think that one tank of gas should last you until tomorrow, and then I can send him over to fix it.'

'Yeah sure,' Sirius said, looking around at the others for some sort of further guidance.

'You go Sirius, I'm pretty comfortable right here,' James said from the front of the boat. He did indeed look comfortable with his head resting in Lily's lap.

Sirius shrugged. 'Yeah whatever,' he said and grabbed the gas can before climbing into the girl's boat.

Remus was immediately overcome with jealousy; there was no way he was going to let Sirius go off with these girls alone. He gave Sirius a halfhearted smirk. 'Hey Paddy, there's no way I'm staying here with the two of them snogging in the front of the boat. Mind if I tag along?'

'Sure kid,' Sirius said with a smirk. 'As long as it's okay with the ladies.

'I don't care,' Jackie said, flashing Remus an all to telling smile.

Remus smiled nervously and climbed into the boat, sitting down close to Sirius for protection. Jackie came and sat down on the other side of Sirius. Remus frowned.

'So where are you girls from,' Sirius asked conversationally.

'We're from southern Minnesota, but we're working at Frozen Beach for the summer, so we're staying there,' Jackie explained. 'We're actually having a big party tonight if you boys want to stop by.

'We're celebrating the last free weekend before all the campers and tourists start to arrive,' Melissa added from the front of the boat.

'Sounds like fun,' Sirius agreed. 'Want to go Remmie?'

Remus sighed, 'Yeah sure.' He didn't want to be rude after the girls had helped them, but he really didn't want to watch Jackie and Melissa hit on Sirius all night, or vice versa for that matter.

'We'll be there,' Sirius agreed, thinking that it would be an opportune time to hit on Remus.

'Wonderful,' Jackie said.

A.N. Sorry this was so short after the long wait. This was originally one long chapter but it was too long that way so I split it in two. So, if this chapter seemed a little uneventful, that's why. This is kind of a build up to the next chapter, which isn't quite ready yet. I'll put the next chapter up as soon as I finish fine tuning it. Should be a couple days.

Thank you for reading, and be sure to review and tell me what you liked and what you didn't.


	6. Diamond Dogs

Author's Note: Hope some of you are still reading this. This chapter is quite long. Also, I make quite a few references to Glam Rock. Glam Rock is a genre of music that was prevalent in the early 70's. There was a lot of glitter and showy costumes. David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane period fits in there somewhere. The New York Dolls, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Queen, and Marc Bolan contributed a lot as well. Also Gary Glitter, but he's a hack who doesn't actually know how to sing (as exemplified by his popular stadium anthem "Rock 'n' Roll parts 1&2) and he likes to sleep with little Vietnamese boys, so he doesn't count. I'll try to keep the glam stuff brief for those of you not really familiar with this genre of music. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Diamond Dogs is a song by David Bowie. I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. Also (a slight amendment from chapter 4) I think I Love You was originally recorded by David Cassidy.

My Sun, My Moon, My Shining Star

Chapter Six

Diamond Dogs

Sirius leaned against the back of the cabin, under a bit of shade afforded him by the eaves, smoking a cigarette from the pack of Lucky Strikes in his pocket. He glanced up at Remus, who was reading comfortably in a canopied patio swing. Sirius blew smoke through his nostrils and watched the way Remus' soft brown hair blew against his pale cheeks with the wind until he could no longer stand it. He swallowed uneasily, his Addams apple rising and falling, and took one last drag on his cigarette before pitching it into the sand. Sirius transformed into Padfoot and bounded across the patio into Remus' lap.

"Oi, Padfoot! Get off me!" Remus squealed, grinning broadly as Padfoot licked his face.

Remus sat up and pushed Padfoot onto the other side of the swing. He transformed back into Sirius. A smile spread over his face as he watched Remus giggle, his body lax against the swing. Sirius brushed the hair out of Remus' face with one lacquered fingernail and he abruptly stopped laughing.

Sirius dropped his hand back to his lap and looked away. He reprimanded himself inwardly, '_You foolish sodding prat. You freaked him out; now he's going to think you're a fruit.'_

'_Not that it's far from the truth,'_ he ventured reluctantly. He cleared his throat and looked back to Remus. "Are we still going to that party?"

Remus just stared at him trying to register what Sirius was saying. His heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to break out of his chest, but for all that his brain still seemed desperately in need of oxygen. His mind was reeling from the physical contact with Sirius.

"Are Jim and Lily going to come?" he finally asked after an uncharacteristically long pause.

"I think that they have other plans; if you know what I mean." Sirius grimaced. "That's one of the reasons that I'm so anxious to go. I don't want to be in there trying to sleep again with the headboard banging against the wall."

Remus nodded. "Yes, alright, let's go then. But you have to promise me that you won't ditch me for some big-breasted bimbo in a red dress."

Sirius smiled, thinking that it was highly unlikely. "Cross my heart and swear to die."

"That's hardly necessary, just promise not to leave me."

"Never," Sirius said solemnly.

Remus looked at him steadily and Sirius blanched.

Sirius covered by looking up into the sky. "It looks like it might rain tonight; we'd better bring our coats."

"Yes," Remus agreed. "I should probably change as well."

Sirius appraised him for a moment. "Wear those sparkly blue trousers that make you look like a rock star."

Remus nodded and set his book down on the swing before walking back into the cabin.

Sirius made a thoughtful sound as he lifted Remus' book to give it a look see. It was a typical sort of Remus Lupin book: a bit of muggle smut. The cover art showed some blonde Adonis standing legs spread with his chest puffed out, a brunette beauty lying at his feet.

Sirius dropped the book back onto the swing, losing Remus' page, and made his way back into the cabin. Remus was just zipping the fly on his pants as Sirius walked in the door.

Remus looked up at Sirius and flushed pink.

Sirius' eyes roamed over Remus' pale chest, following the thin white scars. "Wear that black fishnet shirt," he said finally, breaking the silence.

"Don't you think that's a little too Rocky Horror?" Remus asked. "I don't want to give off the wrong impression."

"I don't think there's any need to worry about that. The glitter pants defy any thought of Tim Curry; they say New York Doll without a second thought."

Remus smiled and pulled the shirt on over his head. "Yeah, I suppose you're right."

"All the same," Sirius said with a grin He pulled a little glass bottle from his pocket. "A little fairy dust couldn't hurt." He dabbed a little onto his pinky and brushed it across Remus' cheeks, eliciting another giggle from the boy. Sirius stepped back supervising his work.

"How do I look then?" Remus asked.

"Gorgeous," Sirius answered, a little too quickly and with a little too much fervor.

"Good," Remus said. He sat down on his couch and began the process of lacing up his boots. "What are you wearing then?"

"I hadn't really thought about it. What do you reckon?"

"Wear the dark blue button down with the pointed lapels; it brings out the color in your eyes."

"With the black bell-bottoms?"

"The ones with the button fly?"

Sirius nodded.

"I should think."

Sirius fished the clothes out of his trunk and stripped with his back to Remus. He did up his pants and slipped his shirt on, turning to Remus as he did up the buttons.

Remus watched him openly, the task of tying his boots left forgotten. "No," he said suddenly, "leave that one." Remus stood up and stepped forward, undoing the topmost button. Remus struggled to swallow the lump in his throat, pausing to thank the gods for the invent of Glam Rock and his consequently tight trousers. It took Remus a moment to lower his hands to his sides instead of continuing to unbutton Sirius' shirt.

Sirius sat down on his sofa and laced up his boots while Remus finished doing his own.

"Ready to go then?" Remus asked, standing up.

"Best take our coats.'

They could hear the music from the boat: David Bowie belting Rock 'n' Roll Suicide over the waves. Remus looked over at Sirius and grinned; his face lit up and laugh lines appeared in the corners of his eyes.

Sirius let the motor idle, bringing the boat slowly to the dock so that Remus could jump up and tie them off. Sirius switched the motor off and Remus pulled him up onto the dock. Abruptly they were face to face. There was an awkward moment as Remus bit his lip and Sirius cleared his throat; and then they were off again, up the dock and toward the steady thrum of music that all too accurately expressed the death of glitter and the dawn of disco.

Sirius turned to Remus: a look of pure disgust on his face. He saw his expression mirrored in the other boy's eyes.

"Disco," they both said at once, giving it the kind of tone one would use when saying something like 'maggots' or 'Richard Simmons.'

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all," Remus ventured.

"No, it'll be okay," Sirius reassured. "I'm sure the music will get better. We'll have fun."

Remus was skeptical, but allowed himself to be led toward the repugnant music, mostly because Sirius was the one doing the leading.

Jackie met them at the end of the dock. She was wearing a form fitting green spandex dress with a thick gold belt and cat's eye glasses.

"Hey guys," she grinned. "Glad you could make it. Just follow the music and you'll find food and beer. I'm sure my idiot friend is in there somewhere." With this she stumbled past them up the dock, a beer in one hand, calling, "here kitty, kitty."

Remus met Sirius' gaze and had to struggle to keep from laughing. "What do you reckon, mildly inebriated or just plain drunk?"

Sirius laughed, "American."

Remus managed to keep a straight face for a moment before he exploded in a fit of giggles and he had to cling to Sirius to keep from falling over.

Sirius wrapped an arm around Remus' waist, something that would have been second nature only a year ago but which now required all his courage. "Take it easy there Remmie; you haven't even had anything to drink yet."

Remus stopped giggling and leaned into Sirius. "How bad do you think it will be?"

Sirius sighed. "I don't know. I suppose there will be disco balls."

"Shudder to Think."

"Nope, it's all Jackson 5 and the Bee Gees from here on in."

Remus gave an illustrative shudder. "Maybe we should just head back now."

Sirius shrugged. "It's either The Bee Gee's or Jim's selection of Frank Sinatra with a nice headboard percussion."

"Yes, of course, you're right Padfoot. I suppose that there's a certain amount of entertainment to be had poking fun at the disco dorks."

"Yeah, guess we'll just have to manage; open bar should help." Sirius smirked.

The open bar turned out to be one dented diseased looking keg that probably cost less then the gas it took to go pick it up.

Remus sniffed discontentedly at his cellophane cupful of warm piss. "I'm ever so happy we came, Padfoot. I always wanted to die of the plague."

"Don't sweat it Remmie." Sirius took the cup from him and deposited it on a window ledge near the keg. "I've got us covered." With a canine grin Sirius pulled a flask from the inside pocket of his coat. He took a swig and passed it to Remus.

Remus took the flask and sniffed it tentatively.

"Think I'm trying to poison you?" Sirius quirked an eyebrow. "I nicked it from Madam Rosmerta; it's good stuff."

"Rosmerta's private fire whisky, I wouldn't be so confident," Remus quipped with a sly smile, but he took a sip.

Sirius watched as Remus shuddered in reaction to the alcohol. He smiled lovingly and took the flask back from Remus.

Remus flushed.

"Over there," Sirius pointed to an abandoned sofa over in the corner: located as far as possible from the dance floor with its gold lamiae clad bodies gyrating rhythmically beneath the revolving disco balls and flashing strobe lights.

Remus nodded and allowed himself to be led to the secluded sofa.

They sunk onto the red corduroy sofa simultaneously and leaned back comfortably, heads together. Sirius let out a sigh and Remus moaned in a way that sent shivers up and down his spine.

"Pass that flask back over here why don't you, Paddy." Remus whispered into his ear. Sirius complied eagerly, and this time Remus took a larger swig of the golden liquid. He liked the way that the whiskey burned his throat. Remus handed the flask back to Sirius, and he took another swig for himself before returning it to his pocket.

"Look at them,' Remus said suddenly, gesturing out at the revolving bodies on the dance floor. "They don't know Bowie, or Iggy, or Lou, or any of them. They probably think that T-rex is just some extinct lizard and Ziggy Stardust is some type of new designer drug."

"They were playing Bowie before we got here," Sirius said.

"They probably had it on by accident."

Sirius slung a conciliatory arm around his friend's shoulders. "Glitter is dead, my friend, and I'm afraid there's nothing you or I can do about it."

"Well a sure as hell wish disco would hurry up and kick the bucket."

Sirius laughed and gazed over at the dancers. "I can't wait to rub it in their faces when it does."

Sirius and Remus sat together on the couch, growing progressively drunker by the moment.

As Remus made a move to grab the flask again, Sirius took Remus' hand in his own to stop him.

"I think you've had enough," Sirius said, holding Remus' hand to his chest.

"You should talk," Remus said, giggling into Sirius' hair. "You're the one who's spent the last twenty minutes talking about Barry Gibb's bum."

Sirius was attempting to put a braid in Remus' hair when a blonde girl in a red dress approached them.

This girl was the type of girl that made you reassess your definition of the word easy: boobs bigger than her head, a dopey smile on her face that all too clearly illustrated how much of the fetid beer she'd had to drink, and a red dress so skimpy it seemed to defy gravity.

Remus watched her approach the way that he'd watch a tiger locked in a cardboard box. Sirius, on the other hand, was too busy trying to straighten Remus' hair with his drunken fingers to even notice her. Remus nudged him pointedly, and Sirius carefully made sure he had a good grip on the lock of hair before looking up.

The intoxicated girl seemed to see this as an invitation, because she moved in on them so quickly that it gave Remus the impression of that same tiger once it had started to rain.

Before Sirius' inebriated mind could register what was happening, he was being straddled by a buxom woman who reeked of cheap perfume and even cheaper beer. The hem of her dress, which Sirius thought seemed a little small for her, had ridden up when she'd spread her legs to bestride Sirius' lap, and the petal pink crotch of her lace panties seemed to encompass the scope of Sirius' vision.

"Excuse me?" Sirius slurred.

"Hey baby," the woman slurred right back.

"Is there something I can help you with?"

"Yeah," she whispered huskily, "my zipper."

Sirius nodded. "Ah, I see. But you must be mistaken miss, because I clearly remember promising my good friend Remus that I wouldn't ditch him for a big-breasted bimbo in a red dress, and honey, I'm afraid you fit that description frighteningly well. So, darling," at this he let go of Remus' hair and pushed her out of his lap, "find someone else to go home with tonight; I'm not interested." Sirius paused for a moment, considering, and added, "Besides, aren't you a little short for a hippopotamus?"

The girl was either taken aback by this last statement, or she wasn't used to having her advances rejected, or maybe she was just drunk, but in any case it took her a moment to register what had just happened before reacting.

After blinking for a moment in confusion, she wasted no more time before spitting in Sirius' face.

"Fucking faggot," she cursed at him, pulling down the hem of her skirt.

"Sorry if I don't find you that attractive Princess, but that's no reason to be throwing about words. And besides, I think you're a little old for name calling?" Sirius stopped and looked at her while she gaped at him. "Princess?"

This last seemed to break her out of her stupor, because she spat in his face again. "Why don't you and your little glitter-fag boyfriend go home?"

Sirius stood up at this last exclaimation. "Excuse me miss, but I think that you aught to leave now. You need to learn how to control your tongue when you're drunk."

This was the first time Remus could remember Sirius sounding genuinely angry.

"Say what you want about me if it will make you feel better about being rejected, but you've no right to go around making unwarranted accusations about Remus, when he hasn't said a word to you.

"And even if we are in the dark ages of disco, it's still the 70's. I don't know, maybe it's different here in America, but back in Britain Glam Rock actually counted for something; and any glitter-fag can tell you that your sexual morals are at best a little out of date. So Princess, next time you feel like going around making assumptions about people you don't know maybe you should take a moment to consider just how you yourself appear to the rest of the world. Or do you somehow wake up on the wrong side of the floor in the morning, look in the mirror, and not see a hung-over whore?" Sirius observed her detachedly for a second. "Is there something I forgot, Princess?"

The girl gave an indignant snort and stormed away in a huff. Sirius laughed in self-satisfaction. Remus just watched her go, a muddled expression, somewhere between a smirk and a frown, on his face. Remus wasn't quite sure was Sirius was trying to prove; or if he, Remus, should find it heartening of disheartening.

Sirius had always commanded the persona of a glam rock star and a sexual presence that defied all conventional parameters, but even for all that he'd always been exclusively heterosexual. He teased the boys nearly incessantly, it was the 70's after all, and he firmly entertained the idea that everyone was bisexual anyway, but Remus knew for a fact that Sirius had never done more than kiss a boy, and even that had been mostly in jest.

"Come on," Sirius said, taking Remus by the hand. "We'd better go."

They stumbled into the cabin around three in the morning, quite a lot more than just mildly inebriated. Sirius clutched to Remus' waist in an attempt to keep his balance. Remus deposited Sirius on one sofa before collapsing on the other.

"Night Remmie," Sirius mumbled.

"Goodnight Sirius," Remus said, switching the light off.

Remus was able to slip most of the way to sleep before Sirius started moaning. Remus made hi eyes flutter open with a sigh.

"Sirius, are you having another bad dream?" he asked the other side of the darkened room.

Sirius mumbled something barely intelligible as being, "there are ladybugs in my bead."

Remus got up and switched on the light, and his annoyance was replaced with amusement. Sirius was grumbling as he drunkenly tried to sweep ladybug corpses off his sofa.

"Do you want some help?"

Sirius grumbled something which Remus took to mean yes.

"I wonder if this lovely abode of yours has a vacuum cleaner," Remus said, turning in a circle.

"What?" Sirius knitted his eyebrows together, trying to puzzle out what Remus had just said, but thinking that much made his brain hurt.

Remus continued to look around the room when his eyes fell on the clock. Nearly four now, it would be light out pretty soon. And then it hit him.

"And I'm supposed to be the smart one," he muttered, grabbing his wand and pointing it at the sofa.

A flurry of dead ladybugs whizzed past Sirius and flew into the dust bin.

Sirius stared at Remus, mouth agape. "Remmie you can't," he started, but Remus cut him off.

"Look at the clock Padfoot."

Sirius turned to the clock, and then back at Remus smiling. "Happy Birthday Remmie!"

Remus smiled genially, "Thank you, Paddy. Now get up so I can clean under the cushions."

Sirius got up and pulled the cushions off. "What's this?" Sirius asked, pointing to a handle that had been uncovered.

Remus examined it, considering. "I don't know. The tag says pull me."

Sirius, taking this as an invitation, grabbed hold of the handle and gave it a good yank. The handle pulled easily and the inner part of the sofa folded out into a bed.

"Well I can say this for muggles," Sirius said, grinning, "what they lack in magic they make up for in ingenuity."

Remus pointed his wand at the bed, and the sheets cleaned and made themselves.

"Nifty,' Sirius said approvingly. "Does yours fold out too?"

Remus moved his cushions aside, but there wasn't a handle. Sirius was already tucked in.

"It doesn't look like it," Remus realigned his cushions.

"Come sleep with me then," Sirius said, patting the bed next to him. Alcohol was an odd thing, he thought, it gave you the courage to do all kinds of things.

Remus turned toward him slowly, dropping his pillow back on the sofa, an odd look on his face.

"Come on Remmie. I won't bite," he said with an uneasy laugh. He folded back the blankets and patted the other side of the bed again. "You were just complaining that the sofa hurt your back this morning, and there's plenty of room for two."

Remus didn't say anything, he just picked up his pillow and joined Sirius on the bed; his heart was pounding like a bass drum in his throat the whole eternity that it seemed to take to make those seven steps across the room.

Remus quickly extinguished the light with his wand to hide the color that had begun to spread across his cheeks. He turned on his side, away from Sirius, a nervous lump rising in his throat.

"Night Remmie," Sirius repeated. Feeling a euphoric wave of happiness wash over him as he grew increasingly aware of Remus' warmth, mere inches away.

"Goodnight Sirius." Remus' heart was still pounding, and his breath caught in his throat.

Remus' breaths slowed after a time and he eased into a comfortable state of lethargy: on the edge of sleep.

Sirius unconsciously draped an arm around Remus' waist as he fell asleep, and snuggled close.

Remus' eyes flew open for an instant, his whole body tense. He stayed rigid for a full minute before Sirius' snores assured him that the other boy was asleep. Remus let out an inward sigh and closed his eyes again, a smile curving his lips. It felt wonderful having Sirius' arms wrapped around him.

Remus made up his mind to tell Sirius everything in the morning, and even if everything went wrong and Sirius decided to hate him, Remus still would've had the best birthday ever.

Author's Note: Thanks everybody. Be so kind as to leave a short review and tell what struck your fancy or didn't as the case may be. If you don't review I'll eat you.


	7. Looking For A Kiss

Author's Note: Just to let everyone know, the rating on this story will probably be switching to M after this chapter, so it will not come up under the recent story list in categories unless you change the ratings on the side to all or M. Just to give you a heads up. If you stick this story on your alerts it should let you know automatically when I update.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. Looking for a Kiss is a song by the New York Dolls.

My Sun, My Moon, My Shining Star

Chapter Seven

Looking for a Kiss

_When I say I'm in love, you best believe I'm in love, LUV._

Sirius woke with his arms wrapped around Remus. It seemed that he had snuggled up to him in the middle of the night. This was getting _ridiculous_; he'd have to tell him. Today, but now might not be the best time. Usually, when you're spooning in bed together isn't the best time to tell your best mate that you've been in love with him for the last year. Sirius breathed in Remus' scent and nuzzled his neck one last time before carefully disentangling his limbs and rolling over on his back.

Remus mumbled and turned toward Sirius, opening his eyes. "Morning Padfoot," he groaned, closing his eyes. "How much did I drink last night, exactly?"

Sirius grinned. "Too much by the look on your face. Here, give me a second; I know I have a hangover potion somewhere." Sirius got out of bed and began rummaging through his trunk.

Sirius only ever wore his boxers to bed, and Remus took the opportunity he was afforded and let his eyes roam Sirius' back.

Sirius finally found it, and straightened up, tossing his hair back. Smiling, he climbed back into bed and proffered it to Remus.

He took the bottle and turned it over in his hands. It was a small glass bottle with a cork in it. He ran a thumb over its mottled purple surface. "This isn't going to kill me is it, Sirius?"

Sirius took the bottle from Remus and uncorked it, inhaling a burst of fumes from the thick liquid. Deliberately, he extended the bottle towards Remus, pressing it to his lips, and tipping its contents between Remus' parted lips.

Remus swallowed and dropped his gaze, flushing.

"Not dead?"

"No."

"Better than?"

Remus nodded.

"Good, because you're not allowed to feel sick on your birthday." Sirius brushed his hands together in an accomplished way, and got up out of bed. "Now, what would Moony like for his breakfast?"

"You're cooking? I thought that I wasn't allowed to feel sick on my birthday."

"Fine," Sirius turned back away from the kitchen. "I'll buy you breakfast then. You're not allowed to cook on your birthday either. Get dressed."

Remus groaned. "Aren't I allowed to sleep in on my birthday?"

"No. How are you going to have a great birthday if you spend all morning in bed?"

'_Come back over here and I'll show you,'_ Remus was fully prepared to tell him; well, sort of. "Come on! Fifteen more minutes, Paddy. Fifteen more minutes won't hurt."

Sirius was standing over Remus, obstinately trying to poke him into wakefulness. "Get up!"

Remus growled in response, grabbed Sirius by the arm, and pulled him bodily onto the bed.

Sirius gaped at Remus, who bundled himself in the blankets and closed his eyes: contented smile plastered across his face.

Sirius was a little uncomfortable, half on top of Remus and half way hanging off the bed, but he wasn't about to complain.

"Fine, fifteen minutes, but that's it."

Sirius was awoken an hour later by a low moaning near his ear.

"Sirius, you're crushing me," Remus gasped.

Sirius grunted and tried to move over off Remus, at which point he found himself sprawled on the floor.

Remus leaned over the side of the bed and looked down at his fallen comrade. "Are you alright Padfoot?" he asked.

Sirius blinked. "Well, I'm awake anyway."

"Good, because I've been awake for the last twenty minutes trying to figure out how to get up without waking you." Remus was busy rubbing the feeling back into his arm. "I thought about levitating you off of me, but I don't seem to be able to see my wand anywhere."

"You lost it again?"

"No, I used it last night. It has to be here somewhere; I'm just not quite sure where."

Sirius groaned. "Actually, I think I might be lying on it." He reached behind his back, and pulled out Remus' wand.

Remus took it sheepishly. "Thanks Padfoot."

Just then James and Lily came in from outside. James had a large barn owl perched on his forearm. "Post for Moony," he said, and the owl took off from James' arm and landed on the bed next to Remus.

While Remus was busy relieving the owl of its burden, James took the opportunity to give Sirius a meaningful look. Sirius just shrugged at him, a slight smile quirking his mouth.

"Birthday card from my mum and dad," Remus said, pulling open the envelope. He opened the package with his wand. "And German chocolates," he added, clearly pleased.

"Alright then Moony; don't have an orgasm." Sirius smirked at him. "You have to wait for my birthday gift until after breakfast."

Remus sort of liked the way that Sirius put the words orgasm and birthday gift sort of in a row like that.

Lily had gone into the other room and returned with three more gifts. "You might as well open these too."

"You guys didn't have to do this." Remus actually seemed kind of embarrassed.

"Just open the presents Rem," James said.

Remus tore open the first box to reveal about a years supply of chocolate frogs; they might last Remus a week.

"Those are from Pete," James clarified, though it was hardly necessary.

Remus opened the next package: nice leather bound journal with his initials embossed on the cover.

"You don't have to write anything personal or anything." Lily seemed to feel the need to explain her gift away. "You can just use it for notes or something."

"No, thank you Lily; it's perfect." Remus tore the paper off the last package: obviously James' doing. It was an album with four rather attractive young men on the jacket; the name on the album identified the band as QUEEN.

"From what I hear, they should be right up your alley, Rem," James said, smiling.

Remus grinned back. "Thanks Jim. I need a new band, before I'm forced to start listening to the BeeGees."

Sirius snorted, no doubt remembering some drunken comment he'd made about Barry Gibb's fabulous disco ass.

"Are you and Lily coming with us to breakfast?" Remus asked James.

"Erm," James looked at Sirius. "No, I think we'll leave the two of you to it. James was looking at Sirius, and he noted the look of relief in his friend's eyes; perhaps this was finally it then. He and Lily had come through that morning, and saw Sirius and Remus spooning in bed together. He wasn't going to meddle, but if they were all lucky maybe Sirius and Remus would stop beating around the bush, as it were. It was obvious to everyone that they were in love with each other: everyone except them, that is.

Sirius had gotten up off the floor, and he was rummaging around in his trunk. He grabbed a pair of jeans out of the mess and was pulling them on when he realized that Remus was still in bed.

"Come on Remus, get dressed."

Remus, who had the covers pulled tight around him, was looking at Lily uncomfortably.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Stop being shy, Lily doesn't care." Sirius grabbed the edge of the blanket and yanked it back. Remus was shirtless, clad only in a pair of boxers, and while Lily might not care, Sirius decided he sure as hell did. Sirius turned back to his trunk as Remus pulled the blankets back up to cover himself, blushing furiously.

Lily just giggled, and she and James went back outside.

Sirius turned back to Remus, pulling his shirt on; Remus was scowling at him. "You're not allowed to be mad at anyone on your birthday, especially me," Sirius told him. Sirius picked Remus' sparkling trousers up off the floor and threw them at him. "Get dressed."

Remus pulled his trousers on and looked expectantly at Sirius, "Shirt?"

Sirius spun around in a circle. "I don't see it."

"Grab me a fresh one out of my trunk then, would you?" Remus was busy running his fingers through his hair, trying to get the snarls out.

Sirius pulled the first t-shirt he could find out of Remus' trunk and threw it at him. Remus caught it in one hand and pulled it on over his head. The shirt was a navy blue one with Marc Bolan on the front, tight fitting, and Sirius thought it made Remus look sexy: maybe too sexy.

Sirius buttoned his shirt halfway and slipped into a pair of sandals as Remus diligently laced up his boots like a good little glam rocker. Sirius walked out onto the patio, pulling a cigarette from the pack of lucky strikes in his pocket and lighting up. He waited for Remus, sighing out a cloud of smoke.

Remus finally joined him on the patio, tucking his shirt in. He looked out over the lake; a loon caught his attention for a moment before his gaze fell a little closer to shore. "Hey Sirius?" Remus asked, turning to him.

Sirius ground his cigarette out in the empty flower pot on the stoop. "Yeah?"

"Where did you park the boat?"

"The boat?"

Remus nodded.

Sirius looked up, turned to the shoreline, and cursed. "Shit Rem! Where's the boat?"

Remus rolled his eyes.

"How drunk was I last night?"

"I vaguely remember something about a hippopotamus," Remus smirked. "And then you told off that disco bimbo."

Sirius' face suddenly broke into a grin of recognition. "I did, didn't I? But then, it wasn't hard; she was awfully drunk."

"Our boat is missing Sirius; I'd say that's rather compelling evidence that so were you."

"Yes, but it's easier for me. I get all verbose and clever when I'm drunk."

"And yet, our boat is missing and I vaguely remember something about a hippopotamus."

Sirius grinned. "Well, if the boat's gone, I guess we'll just have to fly then."

"Oh no, I don't think so."

Sirius nodded gleefully, "Oh yes."

"Isn't there some rule that says I'm not allowed to fear for my life on my birthday?"

"No, how would you have any fun with rules like that?"

Remus clutched desperately to Sirius' waist as they soared over the lake. He buried his face in the back of Sirius' neck to shield it from the wind, and Sirius' hair whipped back around his face. Remus tried his best to lean into the turn as Sirius looped over the lake. They fitted neatly together, Remus legs pressed tight against Sirius' thighs, his chest resting against Sirius' back. Sirius angled the broom down and pressed for speed, and Remus had to cling tighter to keep from being swept off the back.

Sirius shuddered as the hands around his waist slipped and clutched tighter, moving from his waist to his hips, as he dove to the ground. Remus was whispering a steady stream of curse words into Sirius's ear.

They lighted on the cobbles and Sirius held the broom steady for Remus as he dismounted.

"Never again!" he shouted. "Never again, Sirius; I'll swim back before I get on that thing again."

Sirius grinned. "I didn't know you could curse like that."

Remus blushed, and muttered something about Sirius under his breath.

"What was that?" Sirius asked.

"Nothing," Remus looked around at the small village. "Have you been here before?"

"Not since I was a kid, but it looks pretty much the same." Sirius pointed off down the street. "I think that there's a café up this way somewhere."

The village was a little smaller than Hogsmede, but Remus kind of liked it. They walked slowly up the cobblestone streets, commenting occasionally on some of the shops. There were quite a few other witches and wizards out on the streets this morning, bustling about with their arms full of shopping, or meandering along in light conversation with each other.

"Oh, here we go," Sirius said suddenly, pointing across the street to an amiable looking little restaurant. The sign hung over the door identified it as the Morningstar Café.

They legged it across the street and stepped in, the bell on the door jingled as it shut behind them.

A boney witch with straight mouse-brown hair approached them, smiling. "Do you boys want a table or a booth this morning?"

"Booth," Sirius answered for them both.

The witch smiled and led them to a booth by the window. "Haven't seen you boys around here before," she said as they sat down. "Are you up for the summer?"

"Yes, we've got a cabin out on the lake."

"Do you go to Hogwarts then?"

Remus nodded.

"I have a couple of cousins who go there." She pulled a note pad out of her apron. "So what can I get you boys?"

Sirius ordered hash browns and sausages, and Remus got a stack of pancakes. The waitress took down their orders and disappeared off into the kitchens.

Remus leaned across the table, burying his head in his arms, and let out a deep sigh.

"Come on, my company can't be that bad." Sirius reached over and brushed Remus' hair off his forehead so he could see those beautiful brown eyes.

Remus looked up at him. "Just tired," he lied. In truth he was having second thoughts about what he was planning on doing in the next few minutes. He had to tell Sirius the truth; he no longer had any choice in the matter. If he didn't tell him soon, Remus thought he might explode. He just wondered if it would change anything. He really didn't think that Sirius would have a problem with it, but he was worried that Sirius might start to act differently around him. It was like the time he'd decided to tell his friends that he was a werewolf, only worse. The closet could just be such a comfortable place.

"Say, Sirius I wanted to tell you something." Remus sat up now, but Sirius wasn't looking at him.

"What was that?" Sirius asked. He was looking past Remus' shoulder at the back of a rather familiar looking head of greasy black hair. The boy it belonged to was sitting at a table behind Remus at the other end of the café. But, it couldn't possibly be who Sirius though it was. He watched as the boy laid a galleon and a couple of sickles on his table, picked up his things, and left out the door. Sirius caught a brief glimpse of a hook-nosed profile as the boy left out the door.

Remus turned around to see what Sirius was looking at. "What is it?"

Sirius shook his head and looked back at Remus. "Nothing, hopefully I'm just going slightly mad. Now what were you going to tell me?"

Remus swallowed. "Well, I wanted," he began, but was cut off as the waitress returned with their food.

"That was quick," Sirius said appreciatively, digging in.

Remus poked at his pancakes. He couldn't bring himself to tell Sirius something this important when he had his mouth full. The moment was lost.

They ate in amiable silence, and Sirius footed the bill.

"So where to now, fearless leader?" Remus asked as they stepped out of The Morningstar.

Sirius led Remus over to a bench and pushed him into a sitting position. "Wait here. I'll just be a minute," he said, and with that he disappeared up the street and Remus found himself all alone.

Remus watched him go until he was out of sight around the corner. As soon as he got back Remus would have to tell him. That would be a good time. He'd just come out and say it, easy as pie. Just open his mouth and say, 'thing is Sirius, I'm in love with you,' simple as that.

"Lupin!"

Remus looked up at the mention of his surname. Severus Snape stood before him, eyes as big as saucers. Remus was a little surprised to see him as well.

"What are you doing here, Severus?"

"My parents live here. What the hell are _you_ doing here Lupin?" He scowled down at him.

Remus pretended not to notice the scowl or the callous tone in Severus' voice. "We're vacationing at Sirius' cabin for the summer."

Severus made a face like he'd just smelled something foul. "Black's here too?"

"And James and Lily."

Potter and Evans too, Severus' summer was beginning to look very bleak indeed. "Tell Potter to keep that mudblood girlfriend of his on the other side of the lake where she belongs," he sneered.

"You shouldn't call her that; Lily sticks up for you. If it wasn't for her, you would have been on the wrong end of a lot more of James' pranks last year."

"I don't need any help from mudblood girls."

Remus shrugged, "Suit yourself, but James still wants revenge for saving your life, so if I were you I'd try to avoid pissing off his girlfriend."

Severus grinned unpleasantly. "Yeah, well as much as I value your advice and would just love to stand here all day and chat, I have things to do. So, see you later Moony." He injected as much hatred into the nickname as he could manage, and then left up the street.

Remus sighed; he had no doubt that by this time tomorrow half the village would know that there was a werewolf in their midst. Dumbledore may be able to get Severus to hold his tongue when they were at school, but they were a long way from Hogwarts.

Remus looked back up the street the way Severus had gone, and saw Sirius returning; they must have just missed each other. Well, Remus wasn't about to clue Sirius in unless he absolutely had to.

"That was quick," Remus said as Sirius returned. He tried to smile, but his stomach was still feeling a little squeamish from his run in with Snape.

"What's wrong?" Sirius asked.

"Nothing, what's in the box?" Remus asked, quickly changing the subject. Sirius held a cardboard box with holes in it in his arms; air holes: Remus figured.

"Your birthday present," Sirius said, thrusting the box into Remus' arms.

Remus could feel something moving inside. "It's not going to try to eat me, or singe off my eyebrows, or anything; is it?"

"Of course not. You need your eyebrows to tell you how high to apply your eyeshaddow. If you didn't have eyebrows it'd be all over your forehead.'

Remus raised his eyebrows quizzically, consequently demonstrating the fact that he wasn't wearing eyeshaddow. Sexy smudged eyeliner, yes, a bit of day old glitter, but no eyeshaddow.

"Just open it, Remmie. I promise it's nothing dangerous; don't you trust me?"

Remus looked at him skeptically, but pried the lid off the box.

"It's a kitten!" He was a little surprised that Sirius would have chosen something so innocuous. The kitten jumped up, putting her forepaws on the edge of the box and extending her neck out towards Remus.

"I thought about getting you a puppy, but I didn't want the competition; Moony is bad enough."

"Oh, poor Padfoot," Remus said sarcastically, reaching a hand down to stroke the kitten's short grey fur. She arched her back in response, purring, and Remus' hand encountered something hard and scaly. Remus took a closer look, rubbing his hand over the red nubs poking out of the kitten's shoulder blades.

"Sirius?"

"Yes?" he asked, innocent as can be.

"Why is my kitten growing wings?"

"Oh, to fly I should imagine." Sirius reached over and scratched her behind the ear. "But she still has a few months of growing to do before you have to worry about that. They're illegal back in Britain, but they're quite popular over here. Some kind of cross between a cat and a swamp dragon, I had to get on the waiting list months ago."

"You bought me an illegal house pet?" Remus asked. He tried to sound incredulous, but it really didn't matter; he'd fallen in love with the little beast the moment he'd opened up the box.

"Well, it's illegal to breed them, and it's illegal to buy trade or sell them, and it's illegal to transport them into the country, but the regulations are relatively new so it's still legal to have them. As long as you use muggle transport to bring her back home with you, you're perfectly within the bounds of the law. It's a nice little loop-hole, really."

Remus had taken her out of the box, and she was busy trying to crawl up his shirt so she could eat his hair. "So she's only semi-illegal really."

Sirius grinned, "There's the idea. What are you going to name her?"

Remus pulled the kitten off of him and gave her an appraising glance. "Ruby," he answered definitively. The color of her wing nubs reminded him of a ring with his birthstone in it that his mother always wore, or Dorothy's shoes in that ridiculous movie that Lily had made them watch last year.

"Ruby," Sirius tried it out, stroking her. "I like it. If you want, there's a park on the other side of town; we could take her over there and play in the grass."

"Alright," Remus agreed. He deposited the box in a nearby garbage can and scooped up his new pet, following Sirius up the street: the way Severus had gone.

Remus lay in the grass, giggling as Ruby wandered around on his chest.

Sirius was propped up against a tree trunk, trying to untangle some ill-attempt at a braid from Remus' hair. How had that gotten there?

Now would be a good time to tell him. Sirius finished fixing Remus' hair and flattened it with his palm. Sirius figured it would be better if he wasn't touching Remus when he told him.

"Hey Rem?" Sirius asked tentatively.

Remus tilted his head back against the ground, ruffling his hair, to look at Sirius. "I love her Sirius, thank you."

"You're welcome," Sirius said. Remus' comment made what he had wanted to say seem silly; he bit his tongue.

Remus missed Sirius' hand stroking his hair, but now that they weren't touching maybe he could bring himself to say it. "Hey Sirius?"

Sirius ran his hand through Remus' ruffled hair. "Yes?"

Damn. "How are we going to get Ruby home on the broom?"

"I thought you were never getting back on my broom anyway."

Remus weighed how afraid he was of flying against how much he liked having his arms wrapped around Sirius. "Well, if you promise to go slow and you don't dive again it would probably be okay, but next time we're taking the boat."

"We don't even know where the boat is."

Sirius struggled to remember where it was. "How did we get home last night? We didn't swim, so we must have had the boat this morning."

Remus frowned, delving. "Maybe we hitched a ride with someone."

"Or maybe someone stole our boat in the middle of the night," Sirius said, as though this was the far more likely option.

Remus started to think about this, which led him once more into a loop of thoughts revolving around Sirius calling a certain drunken disco whore a hippopotamus.

Sirius pulled his hand back away from Remus' soft hair as he thought about certain comments he'd made, before he was too drunk to really remember, about Barry Gibb's ass in a certain pair of wonderful white trousers.

"Sirius?"

"Remus?"

They overlapped each other and both fell silent.

Sirius laced his fingers back into Remus' hair. "You go first Rem," he said, rather gentlemanly of him.

Remus was all too aware of Sirius' fingers in his hair: stroking. "Naw," he said, "not important." Remus sat up, freeing Sirius' hand from his locks.

Well, now or never. "Remus, lately I've…" Sirius fumbled for the right words, or maybe he just couldn't bring himself to say the ones that should come next. But, hell, he was a man of action; words were Remus' strong point.

"Sirius I," Remus began, but he got the feeling Sirius wasn't listening.

And then suddenly, both of Sirius' hands were tangled in his hair and persistent lips were pressed against his. Remus was so taken aback that he hardly had time to react before he was pulled into Sirius' lap. Remus reflexively slipped one hand between their chests, palm against Sirius' thumping heart, and wrapped the other one behind Sirius' back. He let out a moan into Sirius' mouth, and felt a hot needy tongue slip in between his parted lips.

Ruby paid them no mind; she was hopping over Sirius' feet trying to catch a butterfly. A well aimed pounce and she had it cornered against Sirius' ankle. She let out a satisfied growl and shot a tiny breath of flame at the colorful insect.

Author's Note:

Well, I believe that's your lot. Please leave a contribution in the review box.

Also, if you wouldn't mind making note of your age when you review I'd greatly appreciate it. I'm curious as to what kind of demographic I'm writing for. It won't change how I'm writing or anything; I'm just curious.

Tell me what you like and what you don't….. or I'll eat you.

Thanx:

rekahneko: glam is wonderful. No one seems to mind all the references so far, so there should be plenty more to come.

Secret Slashyness: Go ahead and give me any editing tips you want. I'm pretty outgoing in that department, and I promise I won't get mad no matter how pretentious you sound. I appreciate any help you want to offer. That's part of the reason I bother writing fanfiction: to improve my writing. So yeah, review however you like. If I don't necessarily agree with your advice I'll ignore it, but I'll hear you out….as long as you don't berate me for my abundance of adjectives. I know, I know…can't help it.

xX.Marshmellow.Xx: Fabalicitably? Do feel free to make suggestions if you have them. I appreciate anything I can get.

JeminaKay: I'm glad you like my version of Remus and Sirius; I kind of feel like they're a little out of character. Fortunately, Rowling didn't write about them a whole lot and there's an age difference between the books and when this story takes place, so I have that whole suspension of disbelief thing to play with as I see fit.

rry: There's your kiss. I know it kind of cut off in the end, but you have plenty to look forward to in the next chapter.

GothicTulip: The way things are going there should be some more glam references, and Severus will be in the next few chapters at least, but I'm reluctant to bring Raven back for more than just a token appearance.

Psych Hippy: If you still didn't get the croquet thing, it was a reference to Alice in Wonderland. Everyone has something to say about those damn ladybugs; glad you liked them.

yaoi ad-ikt: Aw, I love you too.

ProfessorJaySnape: Hey now, where's my SSHP m-preg drabble? I'm waiting. Severus should be sticking around for a while. People tend not to like original characters, so I'm reluctant to bring Raven back, but you could probably convince me with a bribe. Drabble, Drabble, Drabble,…wouldn't even have to be long, just a few hundred words. Please? For me?

Also thanx to:

Stinkin Sammy Jay, Tanja88, Yep.Morgan.It.Is, rosemont419, and Dreamhorse730.

I'm glad you're enjoying my fic, and I'm very happy you took the time to tell me so. I appreciate the support, and I'll try to update when I can. If you care to hand out any constructive criticism, advice, or suggestions or if you have any questions I'm happy to give you a more personalized reply.

ANYWAY, THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME EVERYONE, AND I HOPE TO HERE FROM YOU ALL SOON…..WITH A REVIEW YOU KNOW; THEY REALLY DO HELP.


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